Saturday, January 26, 2013

A few blocks in the South Side Slopes of Pittsburgh

Since my first visit to Pittsburgh on four warmly remembered days in February, 1980, I have had a love affair with the city, with a large part of that residing in its hilly neighborhoods. In combination with an old urban landscape, the city often has a sense of intrigue and adventure, of literally reaching new heights and not knowing what discoveries are next.

On my most recent trip to Pittsburgh, I had that joy again on Fri., Jan. 4 inside of just ten blocks of what is sometimes called the "South Side Slopes". Prior to reaching the area I explored, its hills beckoned, as in this view looking south from 26th Street below Carson....

Besides crossing Sarah, a long side street south of Carson, little did I know that I would meet at least two new women, including Josephine, who lives right near the railroad tracks that run along the south end of the "Slopes" area, and can be seen to the right in this image....

Just one short block later, I started up the hill on Kosciusko Way, whose name suggested a Polish neighborhood, at least in the past...

As with a number of streets I've begun to see in "Da Burg", the alleyways look pretty interesting too, but given their semi-private nature, I'm ok just looking, as with this one on the east side of Kosciusko Way between houses at 23 and 25....

just prior to the next phase up the hill, walking east on a "step street" portion of Leticoe....

As elsewhere, you have nice views along the way of two of the city's "nerve centers" - Downtown and the cultural/university center of Oakland - with downtown visible to the upper right here...

looking west from Stella, with Leticoe straight ahead

...in a close-up here....

looking northwest from Stella near Leticoe [taken across from 73 1/2 Stella :)!]

and Oakland below...

looking north from Stella near Leticoe, with the University of Pittsburgh's "Cathedral of Learning" seen behind the crossing electric wires :) ! ] near the upper right side

Turning south from that vista, I was eager for what came next on Stella (with my assuming the name was chosen to either continue the theme of ladies' names in this general area or to imply being just a little closer to the stars)....

looking south (and up!) on Stella from Leticoe

Within a block of that point, I had the choice of more enticing hilly streets to the east or finding out more about a church to the west on Mission Street, seen in the background here...

looking west on Mission from Barry

and in a closer-up view....

but first, an early 20th-century building on the south side of Mission caught my interest....

and the mosaic image of a bird above its entrance, which I imagined might be one of many famous symbols from the fraternal organization of the Polish Falcons....

Inside the building, after entering its foyer....

I learned from two staffers of the Pittsburgh Binding Company that their edifice was indeed said to have been a Polish Falcons center as well as bowling alley and a roller rink, and that the Binding Co. had been there for 18 or 19 years.

On the way to more (and modified!) information on 2538 Mission Street, I saw what turned out to be the closed and once very Polish-American St. Josaphat's Church...

peered inside at its vacant and forelorn but beautiful state....

and learned from an older lady that there have been hopes to turn it into residences. More importantly, she had approached me to ask if I would mail letters for her because of icy surfaces between her and a mailbox, and while she modestly declined my request to include her in this writing - after having said she had been in the neighborhood for her whole life and that she was "80-some years old" - she was very helpful in saying that the structure of the Pittsburgh Binding Company had not housed a Polish Falcons club AND, pointing to the very nearby Garvey's bar at the corner of Mission and Sterling....

she said there was an "old-timer" inside who could tell me more about the section.

After taking a picture of a memorial for members of St. Josaphat's who served in the first and second World Wars, across from the church on the south side of Mission....

and seen more closely here....

I walked into Garvey's Bar and met Don Wojtowicz, who is 83 and is seen here with his son, Paul....

Don, who said that his baptismal name was Daniel, generously began to share his memories of the neighborhood where he was born, raised and has spent much of his life, including his Dad's beginning a store on Leticoe west of Kosciusko Way (so, generally, within the sixth photo above, just before the downtown skyline close-up) and his starting to work for him there when he was 16 or 17 shortly after World War II. Don took over the business in 1957 and 12 years later moved it to Mission and Eleanor, where I am guessing the new "Mission Market", since closed, was in the light-brown level of this structure (but welcoming corrections if necessary!)....

2400 Mission Street, with a "step-block" of Eleanor Street at the right edge of the photo

Don was proud of his family's reputation on the South Side, and aspects such as their
one-time market's great Polish food, including kielbasi ("fresh or smoked"), "kiszka" (blood pudding)
and "krakowska" (a popular lunch meat).

To him, it is very important to not forget where he came from, and while he has moved to the nearby suburb of Baldwin, he faithfully, happily and at least weekly returns to the neighborhood to visit friends, with Don noting that "I still loaf in the South Side"; it appeared that his son Paul, who is 48, may do just the same; he works in food-wrapping in the Shop-N-Save there, adding that he "stayed with the grocery business". Don emphasized that success is not just about the outward trappings of good fortune in business but that it has to include someone being a real person (or down-to-earth), "not putting on airs", and knowing the difference between the two.

Don also began to shed light on an earlier way of life, with one difference between "then and now" coming with his good-natured response to a friend at Garvey's when I asked him "what hospital were you born in?" and he said "I was born at 2505 Leticoe (above his Dad's market)" and "the lady next door was the midwife". He added that "you're better off having a midwife deliver (your baby) and then "take care of (your wife)".

Around 4pm, late for time with part of my own family, I left, knowing the many pathways I would love to return to, such as Sterling looking south (and again, uphill) from Mission, besides the steps up to Garvey's Bar....

and knowing that I had only scratched the surface as well with Don Wojtowicz, who said "I could tell you stories of the whole hill - how it was, how it progressed...but change happens everywhere."

A block east of Garvey's, I was willing to take an Iron City Beer buzz (just one small bottle, but with my low tolerance compared to many others, I'll bet) down the slippery steps of Eleanor, seen here from Mission looking north....

and in reverse, or looking up Eleanor from Josephine....

as I came back to the "South Side Flats", with hopes for more exploration in the future!!

*************************

An additional note on 2538 Mission Street....

To the best of Don Wojtowicz's recollection, the evolution of the Pittsburgh Binding Company's current home took it from days as a private club at first, then, successively, a location for a roller rink, the "Penny King Company" (see below), a club again with bowling alleys, and the Bova Sheet Metal company.

The "Penny King Company", as per Don, made machines from which many of us once got gumballs or trinkets...for a penny! A tiny bit of its history can be seen through a quick google, and two examples respectively are found at sites you may wish to "cut and paste" [while we would all prefer to "click" on these addresses:)!]...

-- http://www.timepassagesnostalgia.com/&pm=0&searchkeywords=Pittsburgh+Penny+King&sin=b535, where a 1955 invoice not surprisingly gives its address as 2538 Mission and identifies it as the ''WORLD'S LARGEST MANUFACTURER OF MINIATURE CHARMS''

and an article, also from 1955 and a trade publication known as "The Billboard", at...

which again notes its 2538 address on p. 79 and, on p. 78, refers to its opening a plant to make charms in Puerto Rico, which was remindful of Don's noting that Penny King ultimately moved its operations out of the U.S.